(SEOUL, South Korea) — Tensions rose in the Korean Peninsula while the two Koreas test-fired missiles one after another in a series of tit-for-tat moves on Wednesday.
North Korea fired four short-range ballistic missiles at 6:51 a.m. local time from its North Pyongan Province into the West Sea. Two hours later, the North fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), one of which landed in the waters below south of the NLL, or North Limit Line.
“This is the first time since the two Koreas split that a ballistic missile fell close to our waters, south of the NLL,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a written statement.
The missile fell 104 miles northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung island, triggering an air raid alert which forced the island’s 9,000 residents to evacuate to underground shelters.
The North soon after continued to fire off an additional 10 or more short-range ballistic and surface-to-air missiles from South Hamgyung Province to the east and from South Pyongan Province and South Hwanghae Province to the west.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the military to ensure that North Korea “pays a clear price for its provocation,” according to his office.
In a retaliatory move, South Korea quickly responded by launching its own air-to-surface missiles into a similar area above the NLL, launched by two F-15K and KF-16 jet fighters.
“This precision strike by our military shows that we have willpower to decidedly respond to any sorts of provocation and the capability and readiness to precisely strike the enemy,” the JCS said.
The warning did not stop Pyongyang from firing about 100 artillery shells into the eastern waters near the maritime border.
South Korea demanded Pyongyang cease fire with a statement that they “once again clearly warn that responsibilities of all situations hereafter lies completely on North Korea as North Korea continues to provoke despite repeated warnings from our military.”
Wednesday’s launches came hours after Pyongyang warned that it could use nuclear weapons to make the U.S. and South Korea “pay the most horrible price in history” if South Korea and the U.S. joint military drills continue.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — Tensions rose in the Korean Peninsula while the two Koreas test-fired missiles one after another in a series of tit-for-tat moves on Wednesday.
North Korea fired four short-range ballistic missiles at 6:51 a.m. local time from its North Pyongan Province into the West Sea. Two hours later, the North fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), one of which landed in the waters below south of the NLL, or North Limit Line.
“This is the first time since the two Koreas split that a ballistic missile fell close to our waters, south of the NLL,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a written statement.
The missile fell 104 miles northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung island, triggering an air raid alert which forced the island’s 9,000 residents to evacuate to underground shelters.
The North soon after continued to fire off an additional 10 or more short-range ballistic and surface-to-air missiles from South Hamgyung Province to the east and from South Pyongan Province and South Hwanghae Province to the west.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the military to ensure that North Korea “pays a clear price for its provocation,” according to his office.
In a retaliatory move, South Korea quickly responded by launching its own air-to-surface missiles into a similar area above the NLL, launched by two F-15K and KF-16 jet fighters.
“This precision strike by our military shows that we have willpower to decidedly respond to any sorts of provocation and the capability and readiness to precisely strike the enemy,” the JCS said.
The warning did not stop Pyongyang from firing about 100 artillery shells into the eastern waters near the maritime border.
South Korea demanded Pyongyang cease fire with a statement that they “once again clearly warn that responsibilities of all situations hereafter lies completely on North Korea as North Korea continues to provoke despite repeated warnings from our military.”
Wednesday’s launches came hours after Pyongyang warned that it could use nuclear weapons to make the U.S. and South Korea “pay the most horrible price in history” if South Korea and the U.S. joint military drills continue.
(NEW YORK) — Brazil’s voters on Sunday chose a new president: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known by the name Lula.
Lula narrowly beat out Jair Bolsonaro, the incumbent far-right president who has become infamous during four years in office for accelerating the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, as well as for his administration’s handling of the pandemic. Brazil suffered the world’s second-highest death toll from COVID-19, behind the U.S.
Although Bolsnaro did not officially concede the election during public remarks Tuesday, and has in the past spread myths questioning the integrity of elections in the country, Lula is expected to be sworn in on Jan. 1.
So who is Brazil’s new president?
Lula is a former labor organizer and founding member of the country’s Workers’ Party. He served two terms as the president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010 and left office with an approval rating of 80%.
During his presidency, he expanded social welfare programs including a vast family assistance program, raised the minimum wage, grew the economy and expanded trade. His programs are estimated to have lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty and grown the country’s middle class.
He was known as a pragmatic negotiator, helping to expand foreign markets for Brazilian goods such as meat and soybeans. Former President Barack Obama once called him “one of the most popular politicians on Earth.”
The country’s constitution prohibited Lula from running for a third term, and he helped elect his former energy minister and close ally Dilma Rousseff as president. She would become the country’s first female president.
Despite his popularity, his presidency was marred by a number of public scandals including revelations the Workers’ Party was paying a monthly bribe, or “mensalão” to political officials, and “Operation Car Wash,” a multi-year criminal investigation into dealings of the state-owned oil company Petrobras along with dozens of individuals in public and private sectors.
He was convicted on charges of corruption and money laundering, and eventually arrested in 2018. Lula maintained that he was innocent. He spent a year and a half in prison before his charges were annulled in 2021 by a Supreme Federal Court decision that found the judge in the case had been biased against him.
Lula tried to run for president in 2018 but a court denied his candidacy due to his imprisonment. Bolsonaro, a former military officer and conservative Congressman who ran on a far-right platform, won the presidential election.
Lula was born to a poor family in northeast Brazil, moving to the metropolis of São Paulo with his family at a young age. He only achieved a middle school education and began working at a very young age, first as a shoe-shiner and then in factories. While working in the metal industry he first became involved in union organizing.
He would go on to serve as the leader of a steel-workers union, helping to organize strikes during the military rule in the late 1970s. The military dictatorship in Brazil lasted from 1964 to 1985.
In 1980, he helped found the national political party, the Workers’ Party, alongside other union leaders, politicians, organizers and intellectuals. The Workers’ Party helped to organize a campaign and social movement called “Diretas Já!” in 1984, which advocated for the country’s presidents to be elected by popular vote.
Lula held his first political office in 1986, when he was elected to Congress. His party helped to draft the country’s new Constitution, which was ratified in 1988.
He ran for president unsuccessfully three times, beginning in the 1989 election, before being elected in 2002.
In 2011, Lula was diagnosed with throat cancer, for which he underwent successful chemotherapy. He has been married three times, marrying his third wife, Rosangela Silva, in May of this year.
He campaigned on reducing the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, tackling climate change and expanding social welfare services, including increasing taxes on the rich.
“I consider myself a citizen who has had a process of resurrection in Brazilian politics,” Lula said in his victory speech Sunday night. “They tried to bury me alive.”
“I am here to govern in a very difficult situation,” he added. “But I have faith in God that, with our people’s help, we will find a way out for this country.”
(NEW YORK) — U.S. citizen and Florida resident Saad Ibrahim Almadi was arrested for a series of tweets he published that were critical of Saudi Arabia while visiting family in the Kingdom last November.
His son, Ibrahim Almadi, spoke with ABC News’ Linsey Davis Monday about his fight for his father’s release and what he knows about the case. Almadi said his father has been tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison, and that the U.S. is not doing enough to help his father.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement to ABC News, “we’ve consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding his case at senior levels of the Saudi government several times in both Washington and Riyadh and will continue to do so. The Saudi government understands the priority we attach to resolving this matter.”
PRIME:Thank you so much for joining us. Talk to me about that day that you last saw your dad. How did you hear about what happened?
ALMADI:Last time I saw my dad, I thought everything was okay. I didn’t know about his situation until December 20. That’s when I reached out to the State Department and our embassy in Riyadh.
PRIME: And what did you hear?
ALMADI: They told me, “we’ll try to locate your father. We have no idea where he is right now.”
PRIME:And did you ever learn then about some charges? How did that information come to you?
ALMADI: Nothing until March 29th, when they saw my father at Al-Ha’ir prison. It’s a political prison where they throw all the Saudis there for practicing freedom of speech, which they don’t have in their constitution there but as American citizens, we have it here.
PRIME: And so what are they accusing him of?
ALMADI:Terrorism, trying to destabilize the kingdom and they torture him until convicted himself that he made these tweets to do that.
PRIME:And you say that he’s been tortured. What evidence do you have of that?
ALMADI:That’s his own words, his own reply to the judge. The judge wanted to sentence him for 42 years. But after reading my father’s reply to the way the investigation went, they discounted him to 16 years from 42.
PRIME:You’ve not been able to talk to your father.
ALMADI:Until now. And the Department of State has no news about my father since August 10th.
PRIME:So you don’t really know his status at all? Is there any way to get any kind of update or what is the United States— ?
ALMADI:I mean, the White House needs to recognize my father. He’s a senior American citizen. I don’t want my father to die in prison like Dr. Abdullah Mohammed.
PRIME: Of course, you’re aware of the publicity and the push to get the United States to free Paul Wheelan and Brittney Griner from Russia. Do you feel that there are any similar efforts underway to get your dad out?
ALMADI:That’s that’s what I’m that’s what I’m hoping for, but nothing yet.
PRIME:You’ve said that the State Department has mishandled your father’s case. And I do want to give you a quote that they have told ABC, they say “we’ve consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding his case at senior levels of the Saudi government several times in both Washington and Riyadh and will continue to do so. The Saudi government understands the priority we attach to resolving this matter” and that they have no further updates. How do you respond to that?
ALMADI:I mean, if His Highness Crown Prince, is quite sensitive from Twitter, I suggest he buy the rest of the stake, he can shut down Twitter. He can’t send a senior American citizen to prison for practicing his First Amendment.
PRIME: And so what does the U.S. State Department tell you? Do you get any updates from them at all?
ALMADI:Nothing. Last time I talked to them was two weeks ago, and that is nothing.
PRIME:And what did they say?
ALMADI:We’re still working on it. We submitted a ticket to see your father, but the Saudis didn’t respond to the ticket.
PRIME:If you could talk to your dad, what would you say to him?
ALMADI: I love you so much. I will do everything to bring you back home.
PRIME: Is there anything else that you can do? Do you feel, are your hands tied because you’re just waiting for the State Department to act?
ALMADI: Absolutely. They need to act and they must act. My father is facing the most aggressive sentence for an American citizen overseas. The Saudi court under MBS they broke a new record. They need to act.
PRIME:Did your dad express any concern when he was going over there to Saudi Arabia, that because he had been critical of the government that something might happen?
ALMADI: That’s a lovely question. My father had his American passport printed, a photo of it, in his bedroom. And he told me ‘son, if I’m gone, immediately reach out to our embassy.’
PRIME: And you did that?
ALMADI:Absolutely.
PRIME:And you feel that the response has not been adequate?
ALMADI:Not yet.
PRIME:Well, we thank you so much for sharing your story, your father’s story with us, and hope that it will do some good for you.
(LONDON) — Delayed police responses and an illegal street obstruction were contributing factors to the weekend’s crowd crush in Seoul, South Korea, officials said on Tuesday.
At least 154 people were killed, and dozens were seriously injured in the South Korea capital’s Itaewon neighborhood as they celebrated Halloween on Saturday night.
The death count could further rise as many of those injured remain in critical condition, the country’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety said.
Those killed or wounded were mainly teenagers and individuals in their 20s, according to Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul’s Yongsan fire department.
Government investigators have scrambled to explain the night’s logistical failures, such as insufficient police reactions and obstructive terraces, which escalated the fatality of the crush.
The first person called for emergency rescue at the site at 6:34 p.m., four hours before the crowd crush, the National Police Agency said. Firefighters arrived after 11 p.m., they said.
In total, witnesses made 11 emergency calls throughout the night, and police dispatched officers to the site four times, the agency said. The officers presumably did not realize the urgency of the crowd, according to local reports.
The National Police Agency is investigating its protocol, seeking to uncover why the rescue squad did not arrive earlier and why the force’s control of the crowd was “inadequate,” per the wording of its police chief.
In addition to the lack of police dispatched, authorities said they were looking into two makeshift terraces on each side of the back street of the Hamilton Hotel building. The terraces were illegal and caused the crowd’s bottleneck pile-up, officials said.
Alley streets must be four meters wide, according to law, but the hotel’s terraces shrunk the alley’s width to three meters, just under 10 feet. Authorities in the ward office of Yongsan fined the Hamilton Hotel for the same violation last year, officials said.
The national police chief, Seoul’s mayor and the prime minister all had separate press meetings on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Each apologized for their inability in preventing this tragedy, vowing to prioritize public safety.
(NEW YORK) — As investigators in Seoul, South Korea continue to determine how 154 partygoers were killed in a crowd crush during a Halloween party over the weekend, crowd control experts say the incident should serve as a reminder about the importance of proper management.
“The first trigger of this incident wasn’t when the first person fell, it happened when [organizers] approved this failed crowd management plan,” Paul Wertheimer, the founder of Crowd Management Strategies, a crowd safety consulting service, told ABC News.
According to Wertheimer, future event organizers and municipalities can avoid a similar fate by focusing on the crowd control plans first and foremost. At the same time, attendees can also be prepared to avoid getting hurt in case of an emergency.
On Monday, South Korea’s national police apologized for failing to properly oversee the party in the Itaewon neighborhood. They said only 137 officers were on hand during the outdoor party, which had over 100,000 people.
“It was foreseen that a large number of people would gather there,” said Hong Ki-hyun, chief of the National Police Agency’s Public Order Management Bureau.
One middle school student and five high school students were killed in the incident as streets and alleyways were clogged with people trying to flee the scene. At least two Americans were among the 19 foreigners killed during the incident, officials said.
Wertheimer, who has analyzed deadly crowd incidents over the years including last year’s crowd crush at the Astroworld music festival, said it was unwise for South Korean officials and event organizers to hold a party that large without any sort of plan.
He noted that crowd safety experts have warned organizers across the world that younger populations are gathering in greater numbers for events due to the amount of time they spent sheltered in place during the pandemic.
“We’ve seen many events this year where young people want to do something big in larger crowds and attention should have been paid to this crowd,” Wertheimer said.
One of the fundamental rules in crowd control is knowing how much density can be put in a given space, according to G. Keith Still, a visiting professor of crowd science at the University of Suffolk in the U.K.
Still, who has consulted event organizers for decades, said the alleyways in the Itaewon neighborhood appeared to have been too narrow for the crowds and that should have raised alarms before the Halloween party started.
“An analogy I like to use is a car tachometer,” Still told ABC News. “You never drive a car before it reaches that red line on the meter. It’s the same with crowded places. If you don’t know where that red line is, you shouldn’t be holding that big of a crowd.”
Even with the limited number of officers, organizers could have put together an emergency plan to keep that many people moving, Still noted.
“Hold people back earlier and then release at that bottleneck and then hold and then release,” he said. “You put three or four officers at those sections and make sure they can see the crowd ahead [and] you can prevent these critical densities.”
The biggest problem is not having a national or international regulatory policy when it comes to crowd events, Wertheimer said. While some cities, localities and event venues may have their own regulations, it’s still a patchwork of rules that differ from place to place, he said.
Wertheimer said there will likely be new rules and regulations that come about because of the Seoul incident. But it’s going to take a fundamental change across the board.
“We know concerts with standing room only are some of the most dangerous events,” he said.
In the meantime, Wertheimer said event attendees can be prepared for potential crowd crushes by knowing where the closest exit is.
If an attendee becomes claustrophobic or short of breath because of the large crowds, Wertheimer recommends to leave immediately and get some air.
“Your biological system will tell you if you’re in danger. Listen to it,” Wertheimer said.
If a person is stuck in a crowd crush, Wertheimer said not to scream or call for help as it would use up oxygen. Use hand gestures, if possible, to get attention, he said.
Ultimately, Wertheimer said the responsibility for crowd safety lies with organizers and local officials.
“Kids should never be the ones who do crowd control,” he said. “The buck stops with the promoter.”
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Latest headlines:
-Russia launches waves of missiles at energy targets
-Blinken accuses Russia of ‘weaponizing food’
-Russia’s partial mobilization is complete
-‘We are seeing casualties mount up,’ Ukrainian politician tells ABC News
-Russia threatens to target US satellites
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 31, 7:07 PM EDT
Russia’s withdrawal from grain deal ‘collective punishment’ for world: State Department
State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Monday lambasted Russia’s recent decision to withdraw from the U.N.-brokered deal that allowed for grain to be exported through the Black Sea — likely to be a chief focus of this week’s G-7 ministerial meeting and potentially the G-20 Leaders’ Summit next month.
“We deeply regret Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is having immediate, harmful impacts on global food security,” Price said during a press briefing. “Russia should return to full participation in the initiative, and we urge all parties to swiftly agree to sustain this crucial program through the months to come.”
“Any disruption to the initiative risks spiking food prices, lowering the confidence of insurers and commercial shippers who have returned to Black Sea routes, and further imposing hardships on low-income countries already reeling from dire humanitarian crises and global food insecurity,” he added.
Price said Russia’s reneging had already caused future contracts for foodstuff to rise, even though some ships appear to have been allowed to pass through the water routes with their cargo following Moscow’s announcement.
“We’ve seen Russia engage in what appears to be collective punishment for the people of Ukraine,” he said. “But Moscow’s suspension of the initiative would be tantamount to collective punishment for the rest of the world — but especially lower- and middle-income countries that so desperately needed this grain.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Oct 31, 3:32 PM EDT
Ukraine energy company warns about attacks on energy infrastructure
Following a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine this Monday morning, Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK says it’s running out of equipment and spare parts needed for repairs of the damaged infrastructure facilities.
“Unfortunately, we have already used up the stock of equipment that we had in our warehouses after the first two waves of attacks that have been taking place since Oct. 10,” said DTEK Executive Director Dmytro Sakharuk. “We were able to purchase some equipment. But unfortunately, the cost of the equipment is now measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Most parts have been already used for repairs following previous Russian strikes, he added.
Oct 31, 4:54 AM EDT
Russia launches waves of missiles at energy targets
Russia on Monday morning again launched a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine, targeting energy infrastructure, including in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down 44 cruise missiles as the Russians launched “several waves of missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities” across the country.
About five distant booms could be heard in central Kyiv at about 8 a.m. local time.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, confirmed that a power plant has been hit, meaning mid-morning around 350,000 homes in the capital were left without power. Kyiv’s water supply has also been compromised, according to a water company.
A local official said “critical infrastructure” had also been hit in the Chernivtsi region in southwestern Ukraine.
Critical infrastructure has also been hit and damaged in Zaporizhzhia in the south, according to another local official.
Other regions of Ukraine appear to have been targeted, including Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Poltava and Lviv.
There are currently no reports of significant casualties.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Oct 30, 10:02 AM EDT
Blinken accuses Russia of ‘weaponizing food’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed Russia’s decision to pull out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative as a statement from the Kremlin that “people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry.”
Russia announced it is withdrawing from the U.N.-brokered grain deal in response to a drone attack Saturday in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay, in the Black Sea near Crimea.
Russia’s decision, Blinken said, is jeopardizing grain shipments he described as “life-saving.”
“In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity,” Blinken said in a statement released Saturday night.
He said 9 million metric tons of food has been shipped under the agreement, which was signed and launched in July. He said the shipments have reduced food prices around the world.
“We urge the Government of Russia to resume its participation in the Initiative, fully comply with the arrangement, and work to ensure that people around the world continue to be able to receive the benefits facilitated by the Initiative,” Blinken said.
Blinken’s statement echoed what President Joe Biden said earlier Saturday, calling Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative, “purely outrageous.”
“It’s going to increase starvation. There’s no reason for them to do that, but they’re always looking for some rationale to be able to say the reason they’re doing something outrageous is because the West made them do it. And it’s just not,” Biden said. “There’s no merit to what they’re doing. The UN negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — South Korea’s national police apologized on Monday, saying they’d only deployed 137 officers to handle a crowd of about 100,000 revellers who were celebrating Halloween in Itaewon, the Seoul neighborhood where at least 154 people were killed in a crowd crush.
“It was foreseen that a large number of people would gather there. But we didn’t expect that large scale casualties would occur due to the gathering of many people,” Hong Ki-hyun, chief of the National Police Agency’s Public Order Management Bureau, said on Monday.
The crush began on Saturday night, as crowds moved through Itaewon’s narrow alleys. One middle schooler and five high school students were among the 154 victims killed, the Education Ministry said on Monday. At least 19 foreigners were among the dead, including two Americans, officials said.
Witnesses said Itaewon’s streets were so densely clogged that it was practically impossible for emergency workers and ambulances to reach the alley near the site.
Police on Sunday said about 200 officers had been in the neighborhood, but revised that figure on Monday amid growing criticism over whether officials could have prevented the incident.
Hong said police don’t have manuals for large crowd gathering situations without a clear organizer.
Lines of citizens, and politicians, are gathering in three different locations to pay their respects on Monday. Official memorial altars were set up in two locations — one near the incident site in Itaewon, and the other in the center of Seoul in front of the City Hall.
Many more also coming to the scene to lay flowers, notes and soju.
“This is all adults’ fault, we could have prevented this if prepared right,” Lee Sung-ho, 61, told ABC News in tears.
“I couldn’t sleep so I had to do something,” he said, placing a white chrysanthemum and a letter he wrote overnight.
“I wanted to see the shirine and thought it would be important that I be here to pay respect,” high school senior Luca Ignat, 18 years old, told ABC News.
Ignat said he was at the scene minutes after the crowd crush.
“Lot of people were still partying and laughing. Then I saw bodies, police came. Officers were screaming. Then I checked the phone, then I knew what I was seeing was real,” he said. “It made me angry.”
(MORBI, India) — Dozens of people have died after a cable bridge carrying hundreds of people collapsed into a river in India, according to officials.
At least 91 people were killed after the bridge collapsed Sunday evening over the Machchu River in the western Indian state of Gujarat, according to state officials.
Several people were injured and trapped underneath the bridge after the accident, leaving officials to fear that the death count could increase.
The collapse occurred in Morbi, about 125 miles from the state capital of west Ahmedabad. The bridge had just reopened after undergoing renovation four days ago and could not bear the weight of the people standing on it, local officials said.
It is unclear how many people were on the bridge when it collapsed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted Sunday that he is “deeply saddened by the tragedy at Morbi.”
Rescue operations are “in full swing,” and assistance is being provided to those affected, Modi wrote.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday declared a period of national mourning after a stampede left at least 153 people dead and 82 injured during Halloween festivities in Seoul.
Two Americans were among the 19 foreign nationals who died, ABC News confirmed. The victims were largely in their 20s and many were transferred to local hospitals in cardiac arrest after emergency CPR, according to the National Fire Agency.
The national mourning period for the victims will go from Sunday through Saturday, Nov. 5, Yoon said.
The incident was reported Saturday night at around 10:20 p.m. local time, officials said.
The crush took place in the nightlife district of Itaewon. Tens of thousands of people were believed to have gathered in Itaewon for festivities on Saturday night. Witnesses said the streets were so densely clogged it was practically impossible for emergency workers and ambulances to reach the alley near the site. People were on top of each other for more than an hour.
Nathan Taverniti, a 24-year-old from Australia, who is visiting friends in Seoul, said he was at the site with three female friends. One of those friends died and another was in critical condition and told by the doctor she was not going to make it, Taverniti said. The third one was hospitalized and is now with family, he said.
Taverniti told ABC news that people were going up and down a small alley hill at the same time, when some people fell down and then people started to pile up on each other.
“Because the whole street in front of me was just people lying down on the floor, and I could see my friend’s hand, and I grabbed her hand and said, ‘I’m going to get you out,’ but she already wasn’t breathing,” Taverniti told ABC News.
More than 100,000 people gathered for Halloween parties in the area, which is known for its nightclubs. The area has bars located along narrow back alleys that flank the main street. People got stuck in these curved, slanted alleys, according to witnesses.
Witnesses also said they didn’t see a police presence in Itaewon at the time of the incident.
World leaders have offered their condolences and messages of support following the South Korea tragedy. President Joe Biden extended his sympathies Saturday on behalf of himself and first lady Jill Biden.
“We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured,” the president said in a statement. “The Alliance between our two countries has never been more vibrant or more vital — and the ties between our people are stronger than ever. The United States stands with the Republic of Korea during this tragic time.”
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio issued a statement expressing his country’s solidarity with South Korea and its citizens.
“I am greatly shocked and deeply saddened by the loss of many precious lives, including young people with a bright future, as a result of the very tragic accident that occurred in Itaewon, Seoul,” the minister said. “On behalf of the Japanese government and people, I would like to express our heartfelt condolences to those who lost their lives and their bereaved families, and we pray for the speedy recovery of the injured people.”
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Joanne Aran and Anthony Trotter contributed to this report.
